Please tell us a little bit about who you are and your photographic experience?

Hi, I am Virginia Woods-Jack, English born and raised and was introduced to photography through my amazing Grandpa when I was about 12 years old and have had a camera with me ever since. I studied Photography at the University of Creative Arts in the UK and got my Masters at CoCA at Massey here in Wellington. My experience spans both art, editorial and commerce. I have worked in some amazing places around the world with some awesome people but I would say that I am now firmly grounded in my art practice.

What are your main reasons for shooting film?

I love the diversity and malleability of film, I am a hands-on kind of photographer and have always loved pushing the medium and experimenting and film allows me that versatility.

What’s the split of shooting digital vs film?

That's a good question, I always have my trusty phone and a film camera with me and I love them both, they both have their place in my practice. If it comes down to cameras it would always be my film cameras that I go to first.

Are you influenced by what is popular in photography?

I wouldn’t say so no, the way I work and what I am drawn to is so intuitive that sometimes it is in line with what is popular but mostly it isn’t.

I would say that there is always going to be an inherent difference but I only really engaged with digital when I felt like I was able to shoot in a way that felt very much in sync with using my 35mm film camera. I definitely think differently with different film cameras and my approach there varies depending on the camera and the format of the film.

The images on your Instagram are very ethereal and emotive. Do you think you could achieve this with shooting digital or does the texture of film fit well with your style?

I have always seen photography as an extension of myself and regardless of what I am using to create my images they all look distinctly like my work from shots on my phone to medium format film. I haven’t delved much into how I achieve that technically as it’s not how I work. Saying that I suppose I have been working with this medium for over 30 years now and I will always default to film as it has always been the cornerstone of my practice but I love digital too, or digital the way I use it anyway.

Your family also play a large part in your photography as muses, are these planned shoots/shots or just because they’re with you when you’re photographing?

I would say this is a 50/50 split. When my children were small they were always with me and I always had a camera with me now they are teens there is more talk around what I am doing and why they are a part of that. Nothing is done without their consent and collaboration.

Please tell us a bit about Woman in Photography?

Women in Photography is a platform I founded last year as I could see a real gap in opportunities for female and non-binary creators working in lens based arts in NZ and AU to share their work. I wanted to create something with others and was very happy that Caroline McQuarrie and Christine McFetridge were keen to collaborate on this with me. So it is we three creating somewhere, online only at the moment, to connect and collaborate. We did a great IG take over on @rps100heroines where we showcased the work of 6 artists and have had some great takeovers on our account also. We are currently working on an exhibition proposal and have other projects in the pipelines. Mainly we want to showcase great work and open up opportunities to discussion, debate and community that we can all benefit from.

As a female photographer have you found it to be a male dominated field?

Most definitely but then that can’t come as much of a surprise. I have had some amazing male mentors and have also had some pretty shitty experiences but I am good at standing up for myself and rising above the bullshit.

Who are some analogue photogs we should follow and interview next?

Benji Hartfield but he has just come off Social Media which would make it tricky, there is this awesome woman in Whanganui but I am unsure if her work is analogue! Tia Ranganui. Also loving Constance MacDonald’s work.

I also love the cameraless work of Poppy Lekner ...that's taking analogue to another level.

Quick fire round35mm or 120?

120

Colour or B&W?

Love both

Zoom Lenses or Fixed?

Prime! Have never owned a zoom!

Portrait or Landscape (Orientation)?

At one point I was landscape predominantly but now I am both….such hard questions!

Flash or Natural Light?

Always natural!! But occasionally I do enjoy using the on camera flash!

SLR (or TLR) or Rangefinder or Point and Shoot?

I have them all!

Must be razor sharp or more about the aesthetic?

Aesthetic all the way

Favourite Camera?

That's like asking me which of my children is my favourite but I do love my Fuji GA645

Favourite Photographer?

This is the unanswerable question as I just love discovering photographers old and new who are making amazing work. The list would be endless! Saul Leiter, Roni Horn, Nan Goldin, William Eggleston are among some of the well known faves and then there are others like Elena Helfrecht, Michiko Hayashi, Freja Najade, Nicholas Hughes...really there are so many and I am discovering new people all the time.

Favourite Photo Book?

I was totally blown away by so many of the photobooks I saw at The Photobook NZ Festival last year, I could have spent a fortune. My attention was drawn in particular to the Japanese photobooks that were on show at The Engine Room from Yumi Goto’s students, they were all handmade and incredible. There was one in particular that I missed out on and I am kicking myself that I hesitated and is now top of my wish list and that is Michiko Hayashi’s Artist book “Hodophylax : The Guardian of the Path” all about the legend of the Japanese Wolf. It is so beautifully put together both from the perspective of an object and also how the story is told visually, it really expanded my vision around what a photobook can be. Here is a clip about the work.

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Welcome to our ongoing articles where we spotlight a photographer.

This month we chat to Adrian Vercoe, half of the brains behind Seconds Magazine and a pretty bloody good photographer. Don't believe us? Check out his work and comments below.

Please tell us a little bit about who you are and your photographic experience?​

My name is Adrian Vercoe and I’m from Dunedin, New Zealand. I am 33 years old and up until last month I had been shooting photos in a professional capacity for Weta Digital for the last 4 years.

I got into Photography through looking at skateboard magazines from about 13 years of age.

I studied photography at Kings High School in Dunedin under the legendary eye of Glenn Smith.

I went on to get a part time job in the local photo store while I studied design at Otago University graduating with a BA majoring in Design Studies.

I did an internship at ABC/Huffer after graduating and then went on a little soul searching expedition to Japan for a few years. It was in Japan that I found my love for photography again.

Mark Sommerville

What are your main reasons for shooting film?​

I like the look of it.

I like trusting the instruments, and troubleshooting why they failed me (/why I failed myself)

I find it more relaxing not being able to see what I just took.

Having to wait for the rolls to be developed builds up a level of excitement similar to opening christmas presents

Newport Beach

​Do you shoot much digital? If so, at what point do you choose film for a task/job?

I shoot film for myself and digital for everything else.

On your last contract you shot a lot of digital did this drive you to shoot film for your personal work?

Yeah with shooting VFX reference you are shooting a tonne of digital images, I found shooting film was a nice way to make shooting photos NOT feel like work...like an obvious gear change for my brain. You also realise how big and heavy a 5D is when you swap it out on the weekend for an FM2...it’s like a holiday for your neck and wrist.

Your VFX onset reference role had a lot of responsibility, how did that affect your creativity?

Having responsibility makes you more organised and the more organised you are gives you more time to think creatively, so I would say it had a positive effect.

Whitebaiter, Invercargill

Your contract also had you travelling around a bit whilst shooting on set, do you find travel helps with inspiration or are you happy shooting as much at home as you would travelling?

Travelling is inspiring for sure. Often when I’m working overseas though the schedule is pretty brutal and you don’t have a lot of downtime for yourself.

Xiang Yang

Given that your job on set was to shoot with a lot of artificial lighting I find it funny that you don’t use it in your personal work, is there a reason for this?

Yeah, I can’t afford lights! nah I prefer to use lights though, a lot quicker when you know what you want. For my personal stuff though it’s more about documenting than creating a dramatic shot.

Xiang Yang

Your instagram feed (@adrianvercoe) is pretty evenly mixed between B&W and Colour, how do you choose which film to use?

I just roll with whatever I had loaded last. I’m a creature of habit, I like portra and tri-x so I usually have some packs of it lying round. So if it’s colour it’s going to be portra 400 or 800, if it’s black and white it’s going to be Tri-X 400 and I’ll push it if I need it faster.

Portraits feature a lot in your personal work, do you seek them out or just have your camera when you’re with an interesting subject?

Man I gotta back on them. Sometimes I seek them out. Sometimes I ask. Either way there's always some funny/awkward chat.

Are you working on any project currently?

Yeah! My daughter is my full time project at the moment. I’m not working towards anything photographically at the moment, although in saying that I take a lot of photos of my daughter and my cat. I’m taking a break from the onset work and holding down the house husband role for abit. I have some concepts I would love to get off the ground when the time is right.

Who are some analogue photogs we should follow and interview next?

My instagram feed is mainly skateboarding and cars cause I’m a washed up skater and still a bogan at heart. You should interview Graham Tait, he’s a Scottish (I think?) skate photographer that shoots heaps of film and makes North Mag @grahamtait. I always like seeing posts from @andrewjamespeters, @blabacphoto, @stickersbrowne, @tom_gould, @harryculy and @jakemein and of course yourself @seanaickin....but for film photographers I’d rather find their book in a library than on instagram.

Dan Golding

Boston

Newport Beach

Newport Beach

Newport Beach

Xiang Yang

Boston

Xiang Yang

Eric Saindon

Quick fire round

35mm or 120?

35mm in the mju II, 120 in the Hassy

Colour or B&W?

B&W - Timeless

Zoom Lenses or Fixed?

Fixed

Portrait or Landscape (Orientation)?

Portrait - Fit two on a spread if you all about that Zine life

Flash or Natural Light?

Natural - unless it’s dark then you gotsta flash

SLR (or TLR) or Rangefinder or Point and Shoot?

Point and shoot - even the out of focus shots are interesting on film

Must be razor sharp or more about the aesthetic?

Imperfections are what make it perfect

Favourite Camera?

Nikon FM2 never lets me down

Favourite Photographer?

Mike Blabac

Favourite Photo Book?

Heaven - Dennis McGrath, the layouts got heaps of handwritten text scanned in with the photos, I like the rawness of it.

Harry Culy’s field studies books were/are really cool. Like a nice little snapshot of peoples local environments printed in a raw black and white style with rounded corners.....I love those corners.

Rare Air by photographer Walter Iooss Jr - It’s a photography book on Michael Jordan. There’s all these amazing on court and better off court moments shot on film and the photos are real big...even better I got it at the Dunedin dump store for $1 and it’s mint.

Firstly, thanks for popping by the opening on the 15th of September it was great seeing you all and sharing the occasion with you.

You may remember the goodie bags that we gave out to you lucky sods. Well, that's the reason for this open letter. Unfortunately we have suffered a couple unforeseen machine failures which means we are not in a position to accept the freebie Dev and Scan vouchers yet.

But don't worry! As soon as we have resolved these two issues we will let you all know so you can drop off the films and we will fully honour the offer. Because of the delay we have decided to not enforce the expiry date on them so keep it for as long as you want and we'll still honour it for aaaaaaaages mate.

We do apologise for the inconvenience and trust us we would much rather not be sending out this message. But we don't want to offer a sub par service.

If you're in the neighbourhood stop by for a beer or coffee and we'll have a chat. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to sorting out our shit and being the best darn photo shop that we can be!

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https://splendid.nz/blogs/news/my-splendid-camera-sam-gorham2018-08-02T19:32:00+12:002018-09-15T01:02:54+12:00My Splendid Camera - Sam Gorhamsean aickinMore]]>
Not everyone can chose a 'favourite camera' and Sam Gorham is one of those.

‘Sadly, I don’t have a particular favourite camera! But I’m all for medium or large formats and the slow processes associated with film. These were taken on a Mamiya RB67 with a 45mm, perfect to get all the nice details in. She’s notoriously tricky to operate, you’ve gotta persevere with the RB.’

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https://splendid.nz/blogs/news/complements-by-mike-lamb2018-07-22T19:42:00+12:002018-07-22T19:42:25+12:00'Complements' by Michael Mahne Lambsean aickin
Michael Mahne Lamb to discuss his first book, Complements. Out in conjunction with Bad News Books. Check out our interview and flick through of his book.

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Flicking through Complements by Michael Mahne Lamb we can’t help wanting more. We want to know more about the image (‘Where is the dog going?’, ‘Did that ute back into that piece of metal or was it busted beforehand?!’) We want to know more about what is going on in the scene. After interviewing Michael, we seem to be none the wiser — but we do realise that this is what he is looking for. He is not content with an image being ‘pleasing’ or ‘nice to look at’ (could anything be more of a backhanded compliment than ‘oh that image is nice to look at’?) he wants you to feel something, he wants you to be uncomfortable or comfortable. Simply being ‘content’ or a passive viewer of his work is not his intention. When you look at his work you better feel something dammit.

To further explain this we went to catch up with Michael and discussed his first body of work, Complements;

I remember when you were getting all your images scanned, how did you select them all?

I had been shooting for the last two, almost three years. To start editing I made contact sheets. I went through and made A4 contact sheets and went through with a pencil—

Oh so you literally went through in a manual way off an index sheet?

—yeah, so I ended up with around 350–400 selected and made small work prints. I had this stack and went through with ‘yes, no and maybes’ and I just culled it down over time. I ended up with probably 100 or so I was really happy with.

The process was just intuitive, naturally one image or full spread would somehow lead to the next, and that’s how the final edit and sequence was constructed.

Multiple times I revisited the pictures that didn’t make the sequence to see if there was any that I might of missed, and could or should be included.

Even a couple of my favourite ones, that I thought would definitely make the final cut, just didn’t have a suitable pair, or didn’t sit well in the sequence.

That was my next question was there an image that you wouldn’t ordinarily have put in there but because it complimented another one so well it made the final cut?

Yeah definitely. I think there was a couple in there, actually, there is one of a concrete floor with a spill of water going across it and that laid up really well with the image of a river bank. It must have stood out for me to pick it off the contact sheet but once those two paired up it just worked as a spread. By itself it could be seen as a nothing image but paired together it evokes something more.

I’ve noticed all of the images are shot portrait (orientation) is there a reason for that?

I’d say 90% of my images are portrait. I just found myself instinctively seeing images like that. I’m really drawn to strong graphic images, I like geometry and tension within the frame. I feel I can achieve that more with vertical images. Also whenever I’m composing something in camera I always have an idea of where the golden ratio sits, that’s why I love the 35mm format, just because of that perfect ratio and that’s an influence on how I shoot.

What’s the reason you shoot film?

I can go through a film in two days or a film can sit in my camera for two weeks, but every time I get a contact sheet back it’s a range of images. The most I’ll shoot of a scene is one or two images, and I’d rather see that as it’s almost like my first selection has already been made for me.

I guess it comes back to the usual reasons that a lot of people shoot film, it slows you down, like you’re not gonna blast off 50 images of a table and chairs and umbrella.

Yeah but it also speeds you up, I’ll shoot one frame and keep walking. I don’t have a screen to look at, like the picture you mentioned, in the moment you just shoot it and move on.

The book was shot between 2015 and 2017, you’ve obviously been thinking about it for a while. Was there anything in there that you shot specifically for the book?

The kinds of pictures I increasingly found myself making, I knew I was creating a body of work, whether it be a group of smaller projects that had a common visual language or one overall project I wasn’t sure.

Your images are quite lonely, like you see the backs of people's heads and you crop out faces, there’s a lot of shots where there would be people around, was this intentional or was it more a case of how you shoot and compose? Also, where did the title come from?

A book that really developed my thinking about the work was Rudolf Arnheim’s ‘Visual Thinking’. In one chapter he explains this concept called ‘Amodal Perception’ which is more or less the ability our minds have to complete obstructed views of objects or scenes subconsciously. These incomplete views are described as amodal completions or ‘complements’. As well as the fact I knew I wanted to present each spread as a pairing of two images which ‘complement’ each other made the title fitting.

For a while there I thought the cover image was fabric and it looked like stitching all until you emailed me the cover image and I realised it was an image and not a texture, how did you land on that as the cover image?

Like you said it doesn’t look photographic. It was one of my favourite images before it became the cover — in terms of what I was saying before — the golden ratio, the geometry and the flattening of planes.

How did the link up with Bad News Books come about?

Early last year, I briefly spoke to Harry about the concept behind the book and he said to get in touch if you ever need a hand with editing or opinions. Later in the year, once I had the rough dummy together, he gave me positive feedback and helped me in terms of tweaking a few things here and there and that conversation stayed open. It ended up being a Bad News Books title so that was really cool, Lucy helped with some of the final type design and they’ve been a huge help with promoting it and helping me with the whole logistics of selling it and making it accessible to people. It’s hugely appreciated.

So, what’s next?

I’ve recently made some of the work in the book into prints. I want to see what these images look like on a larger scale and translated to the wall, that’s been really rewarding so far.

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Hi and thanks for coming to our web-store. Here is a short article explaining who we are and what we do. When I started it the idea was to be an antithesis to the current digitally driven market. Don't get me wrong digital is good but people (consumers) tend to get wrapped up in 'edge-to-edge sharpness' and 'dynamic range' and 'megapixels'. Again, don't get me wrong, high quality, sharpness and DR is important, but the problem I saw was the fun within photography has been forgotten in the pursuit of perfection and as we all know perfection doesn't exist.

The idea of Splendid is to make it fun again. Focus more on the output and sharing of photography and the joy of taking pictures and creating art than on the science of sensors and glass. We will triumph photography in all it's forms (yes, even digital!) and relish in the process; from creating, editing, printing to displaying and sharing.

Our goal is to assist photographers in where ever their project takes them. We would like to be there from the beginning, selecting a camera; mid way point, selecting the right film or equipment; all the way to helping with exhibiting in what ever form they choose.

Over the next few months we'll be launching initiatives that will help photographers, hold group shows and bring products and services to New Zealand that aren't readily available here.

Take a look around our site, please know it's a work in progress and if you have any ideas, projects or shows that you need a hand on or want to talk about, get in touch! We like beer so we'll talk about photography for as long as the beer is cold.